Barb for wire fences



(No Model.) 1

E. W. ROBINSON. BARB FOR WIRBFENGBS.

No. 421,055. Patented Feb 11, 1890.

Witnesses 1110612 r01.

EDWARD W. ROBINSON, or DEERINe, MAINE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO E. BAKER IVELOH, OF CAMBRIDGE,

MASSACHUSETTS.

BARB FOR WIRE FENCES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 421,055, dated February 11, 1890. Application filed March 8, 1888. Renewed December 24, 1889. Serial No. 334,806. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD W. ROBINSON, of Deering, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Barbs for lVire Fences; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in barbs for wire fences. Its object is to provide a barbed-wire fencing which will present a sharp point to animals rubbing against it, but which will not, while sticking into them, tear the hide. It consists of a barb made of spring-steel or flexible metal turned in the shape of a coil and having its ends sharpened and pointing outward in the direction of the length of the coil.

Reference being had to the accompanying drawing for illustration, my invention may be described as follows:

The figure in. the drawing represents a portion of barbed-wire fence, showing one of my improved barbs in its normal position and one bent into the position it would take when rubbed against by any object.

(t represents the wires 'or wire on which the barbs are strung or placed. These may be composed of several strands twisted and the barb placed between the wires, or it may be of a single wire or ribbon-wire, as it is called, and the barb pass through a hole therein. The barb b is made of flexible material coiled,as shown in the figure, and having the point 0 extending out in the line of direction of the coil. at convenient intervals.

Great objection has been made to barbedwire fences because the barbs, being rigid, tear the hides of the cattle and, on the line of the highways and about the houses, the clothing of persons who perchance go near them. My invention is designed to obviate These barbs are laced this disadvantage, butat the same time pre serve all-the manifold advantages of a barbedwire fence.

The operation of my improved barb is as follows: The barbs extend out at right angles or nearly so to the wire stringers. \Vhen any objects, as cattle, come in contact with the points, the points of course stick into and prick them. If they draw away directly, there is no harm done beyond a slight prick. Now,'if they move along in the direction of the wire fence, the barb sticking into the hide is not held rigid, as in the old method, but the coil Z), being flexible, bends over, as shown in the figure, and the barbs draw out instead of tearing the hide. The same is true when the clothing of persons comes in contact with these barbs. WVhen the resistance is removed from the point 0, the coil and point, being flexible, immediately return to the position indicated in the dotted lines in the figure.

A distinguishing feature of my improved barb is found in the fact that the several coils have the same diameter and are placed close together, forming, as it were, a cylindrical tube of uniform diameter. This arrangement affords a rigid resistance when the force is applied at right angles to the fence. In all other directions the coil bends, as before described. The coil is easily made and readily affixed to the fence-wires, it being placed between the two strands as the wires are twisted. The coils of the barb being close together, no fastening is necessary.

I hereby disclaim a barb having its ends bent downward into the coil and then outward to form the points, as shown and claimed in patents granted to NV. WV. Butler November 1, 188], and also a barb formed by winding a piece of wire around the fencewire, as shown and claimed in patent granted 0 to Vright, No. 249,817, November 22, 1881.

Having thus described my invention and its use, I claim 1. A flexible barb formed by winding 'a piece of spring-wire into a succession of coils of uniform diameter and then bending the Wire at a right angle to the last coil to form tially as and for the purposes hereinbefore 10 a point, snbstantially as and for the pur- I set forth. poses hereinbefore set forth. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as 2. The combination, with Wire fencing or my own I affix my signature in presence of 5 netting, of a flexible barb formed of a suetwo witnesses.

cession of coils of spring-Wire, said coils having a uniform diameter and being Wound WVitnesses: close together and having the Wire bent at ELGIN O. VERRILL, right angles to the outer coil, all snbst-an- LEVI O. VERRILL.

EDlVARD \V. ROBINSON. 

